Rogers State University: First Amendment Violations

The Organization for Advocating the Rights of Students (OARS) faced a series of administrative restrictions while seeking to obtain status as a recognized student organization. OARS was told that it would not be allowed to circulate flyers on campus if the information on them was "not correct," a violation of the First Amendment and a misinterpretation of RSU's own policies, and that all such flyers must receive prior RSU administrative approval. OARS also was told that RSU's public relations department wanted to be in charge of all websites and social media applications run by student organizations. OARS finally received official recognition after FIRE wrote a letter to RSU President Larry Rice, but RSU did not signal whether it planned to correct the mistakes made by the lower-level administrator.